Test equipment, particularly automatic test equipment (ATE) used in testing electronic equipment, often involves large, heavy equipment. In one example, a test head contains a substantial amount of electronics for use in testing integrated circuits (ICs). Such a test head may weigh 500 to 3,000 pounds. The test head is supported by a manipulator, which is used to position the test head proximate to a peripheral, such as a handler or prober, depending on the type of equipment to be tested. Operators typically interact with the manipulator, thereby moving the test head next to the peripheral to align the faces of the test head and peripheral in preparation for docking the test head to the peripheral.
The operator's interaction with the manipulator has typically required manually positioning the test head or turning hand wheels to adjust horizontal position and twist, roll and yaw angles. In some applications, a motor in the manipulator is manually activated to raise or lower the test head. Also, direct pushing or lifting of the test head by operators is sometimes required to move the test head and peripheral close enough for the final pull down phase of docking, involving alignment and clamping. A substantial risk of damage to the test head and/or peripheral exists because movement of the heavy test head relative to the peripheral is controlled by the operator. Collisions of any form between the test head and peripheral can easily damage the delicate components on both sides or injure the operator. Precise alignment is required, as many small components are often being coupled in the docking process, including some having at least several hundred electrical connectors per square inch. Also, due to the physical size and weights of test heads and the six degrees of freedom of the test head movement required to be managed, movement of the test head to enable the docking process can be a very time consuming and iterative process, involving substantial hand cranking of controls, or pushing of the test head, by the operator to obtain the proper test head position.